We had the first part of a two part black powder competition last night. For the uninitiated black powder pistol shooting become popular in this country after the handgun ban in 1997 when nearly all pistols and revolvers were removed from public ownership. However, black powder (gunpowder) revolvers were exempt.

It's a relatively cheap sport if you cast your own lead bullets and use black powder (pic) rather the than more expensive substitutes which are 2-3 times the price but don't require an explosives certificate. The caps (small percussion caps used to ignite the main charge) are expensive at around 4.5p each (27p for all six shots) and that doesn't include the powder, ball and wad. We discovered, last night, that toy pistol caps are just as effective and far cheaper thu8s making a very enjoyable sport a little less expensive to partake in.

Just a thought here but doesn't this make the recent regulations on buying primers a bit pointless if you can just go to the nearest toy store and get something to do the job with no questions asked. However, I cant see it working on centrefire cartridges so maybe the politicians will leave the kids caps unregulated for a while.

They don't. That's 40 odd grains of black powder sending a .45 calibre lead ball close to 900 feet per second. The caps just start the process, the igniter.

You can see three flames. The largest is burning powder coming out of the muzzle. The second, to the left is due to the small gap between the cylinder and the barrel and the left most is the percussion cap ignition.

not at all, i didnt make myself clear. its interestng to have a breakdown of the image also. thanks.

It's a open shutter, fire, close shutter picture you wouldn't normaly expect to see all the flames at their most intense at the same time. In fact the effect is enchanced a brurning particles will for a track most obvious in the muzzle flash. In daylight you see very little of the flame just lots of smoke. It's great fun nonetheless.

If you're in the Bangor area anytime let me know and I'll take you to the indoor range and shoot a variety of guns. That goes for any Downsizer, it's an open invite.